Bob Knickerbocker's Baja Ha Ha 2007 Story

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

I flew to San Diego on Saturday October 27th to meet up with Jim Barbee, my ex I36 partner, and his wife Mary Ann to sail the Baja Ha Ha on their Lafitte 44, "Second Wind" which they bought almost two years ago. The boat was docked right out back of the bar patio of the Sheraton Hotel on Cabrillo Island. Rich Anderson, our fourth crew member arrived in the afternoon from Washington State. We spent the day cleaning the boat, getting fuel and groceries, and getting the dingy back on board and tied down on the deck. Sunday we attended the pre Baja Ha Ha Halloween costume party in the West Marine parking lot and had dinner with Jim and Mary Ann's son who lives in La Jolla.

Monday morning at 7AM, we started motoring out of the Bay for an 8:30 start time. There were about 160 boats of all sizes and colors. It was similar to the Vallejo race start except we all had the same start time even though we were all spread out. Of course, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan had to leave port at the same time and made a few boats turn on their engines to move out of their way. After the ship passed us, we noted what looked like their holding tank being discharged. Within an hour they turned around and went back to port. Oh well. We hoisted the asymmetrical spinnaker and tracked the boat down wind as much as possible. My watches were from 3 to 6 o'clock for both the day and night. Around 11PM the first night, I heard the call for all hands on deck and hurry. The spinnaker was down and it took some time to totally assess the situation. It was under the boat with both the tack and the clew lines still attached off the port side. We were able to grab the spinnaker out of the water on the starboard side and slowly bring it aboard as we released the tack and the clew. We did all of this as we continued to sail with just the main. We stuffed it down the galley hatch and left it for the morning to deal with it. We all patted ourselves on the back, then I slept a few hours before my watch started. After the sun came up, we decided to sail wing on wing with the jib poled out and maintained it for the next two days and nights. The winds got to 25 to 30 during the days with 3 to 4 foot swells and blew 15 to 20 during the nights. We maintained our down wind track and were about 100 miles off shore before we crossed the finish line latitude and turned to land for our first stop at Bahia Tortugas. We arrived at the Bay entrance around 4AM and waited for sun light to enter the Bay and anchor.

It turns out the spinnaker halyard chaffed at the block and the halyard was lodged around the steaming light. After some head scratching, we were able to release the halyard without going up the mast. We dragged the spinnaker back on deck to dry and noticed a 3 inch triangular tear about 10 feet from the head. We decided to retire it for the remainder of the trip. We headed into town for lunch and showers. We headed up the main street and found a nice restaurant full of other sailors swapping sea stories. After lunch we headed for the showers but were informed they ran out of water. The bucket on deck did the trick again. The next day there was a pot luck on the beach and the locals were selling beer and food for those who did not bring anything.

We stayed for two days and left early in the morning for the second leg. We still had good winds but a bit lighter than the first leg. We sailed again with the jib poled out and on this leg we were only about 90 miles off shore. About one year ago I helped Jim install a Scanmar Monitor Windvane and was out with him when we first tried it out connecting all of the lines and figuring out how to tweak it. On the trip the vane became our best friend since he kept working 24/7 without any complaints. It has a smaller vane for heavy winds and a larger one for light winds and we alternated as the days turned to nights. Nothing eventful happened on this leg although we did sail pretty close to a large fishing boat about 4AM and saw a few cruise ships cross our path. We arrived 2 1/2 days later at Bahia Santa Maria and dropped the anchor just before sunset. The next day the was another event on the beach with beer and a seafood lunch sold by the locals. Bahia Santa Maria consists of 6 fishing shacks - period. We took a small hike up the hill and were treated to a nice view of the area. There were some good size rollers at the beach so it was recommended that everyone go ashore using the Mexicans fishing pangas instead of their dinghy's. From where we were anchored we could watch the pangas navigate the rollers and they made it look pretty easy. When the sun went down behind the hill and as it got cooler we decided to take a panga back to our boat. The next morning we learned that the rollers got bigger and the panga drivers determined it was dangerous to leave the beach. Seventy two people were stranded over night with just shorts and t-shirts all crammed into some of the fishing shacks. As usual some people took it in stride and others were not too happy. Welcome to cruising.

The third leg to Cabo San Lucas was totally uneventful although it was warmer with much lighter winds the second day. We wanted to sail all of the way but had to use the engine for the last two hours as the winds decreased and in order to get into the anchorage before night fall. We could tell it was a busy town after we saw three cruise ships leaving and all of the new construction as we approach the bay. After dinner we headed for town and had some obligatory beers before heading to the Squid Row bar where the Latitude 38 crew suggested we all go to celebrate our arrival. The next day Rich and Mary Ann got our paper work processed and Jim and I had to move the boat, in the already packed bay, since there was a movie being filmed and they did not want boats anchored in the scenery. Later in the day we were notified that a space in the Marina was available. We rafted up with eight other boats on a 120 foot end tie. It was cozy and took some time to fit everyone in with wind vanes and or dinghy's off the sterns. The next two days we spent exploring the town and had meals on the strip and also found some nice little places further in town. I described Cabo as Las Vegas with a beach, but without gambling. Finally, on November 11th, it was time to leave and fly home. As they say "Nothing goes to weather like a 747".

Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. The sailing was great with good winds almost all of the time which kept the boat going at 7 to 8 knots and surfing to 10 to 11 knots. Mary Ann cooked very elegant dinners for being at sea and kept us happy with her brownies and chocolate chip cookies. All of the sailors were varied and friendly as were all of the Mexican people. The Monitor Wind Vane performed as a valued crew member - non stop and didn't even consume any cookies. And last but not least I give thanks to Jim and Mary Ann for the opportunity to sail with them on the start of their first winter cruising season in Mexico and who knows where else they may go.

Bob Knickerbocker

Pictures by Bob Knickerbocker. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

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